Finding a Rainbow in a Thunderstorm
by riah alice drake
Summary: Its Margot's turn to have a bad day and Tilly is determined to make into a better one. Even if it means running out in the middle of a rainstorm and telling her the first made up story that comes into her head to do it.
1. Chapter 1

It was like a siren call in the haze of the overcast day. Waking Tilly from the daze of sleep like a lightning strike right into her heart.

She had to get to Margot.

Not even stopping to do more than pull on her plaid shirt over her sleep shirt shoving her feet into her boots without socks and grabbing both her backpack just from habit more than anything as well as her apartment key despite leaving viah the window. Tilly's one thought was that there will be hell to pay on whoever hurt the woman she loves. It also helped that she knew the streets and rooftops of the Heights like the back of her hand as she ran jumping from building to building like she was some kind of avenging outlaw rather than a worried girlfriend.

She reaches the right neighboring rooftop what seems like minutes later making her slow to take in the scene from the window opposite her after a bit of careful maneuvering up the fire escape that is.

Tilly had never seen Margot breakdown this bad before or at all for that matter. Her room was a mess as if the woman curled into a tight ball on top of the rumpled blankets had unleashed a full-blown tornado in her room before collapsing onto the bed to cry into her pillow. She'd already made the running jump over to the adjacent fire escape when Margot looked up at the place Tilly had been her eyes hopeful despite the tears in them only to harden and close letting more tears escape as she rolls over away from the window.

Tilly drops down landing with her normal catlike quiet pulling the hairpin she once pocked during one of her earlier dates with the upset woman on the other side of the glass from its hiding place in her own hair to make quick work of the lock and push the window open enough for her to slide into the room. She was going to assume the lack of response to her presence was a side effect of whatever had caused her love so much pain.

Margot only let out a surprised breath when the bed dipped, and she detected a rather heavy thumping from behind her of a bag hitting the floor but calmed once she saw the rainbow bracelet the intruder was wearing drape across her stomach as the body the arms it was tied to belonged to molded itself along her back.

Neither spoke as the upset woman turned in the half circle of Tilly's embrace latching onto the blonde while hiding her face against Tilly's breastbone as a new wave of tears fell.

"Just let it out Targo. I've got you." Tilly vowed rubbing little circles against Margot's back "I'm not going anywhere, baby." She added feeling the clenched pull of Margot's hands against the back of her shirt.

"Once upon a time…." Tilly started to say thinking a story she'd just make up regarding both her and Margot's favorite storybook characters would be nicer than letting her girlfriend keep listening to her own demons whispering in her mind any longer. Margot was for once having her own bad day and Tilly was sure as Wonderland wasn't going to let her suffer anymore.

"Once upon a time Alice was in the woods with a spyglass in her hands looking in on her papa wanting to be sure that he was safe and happy before she went off on another adventure." She started against twisting her fingers in Margot's hair as she talked

"Hang on why would Alice's dad be camping out in the woods when they have….." her girlfriend's scratchy voice questioned cutting the story off in the middle of Tilly saying "-to find an arrow being pointed in her face and looking into the most beautiful green eyes imaginable…."

"Shh, shh, shh. Shush, shush, shush. It's story time love." Tilly cut in scooting back, so she could press her fingers against Margot's lips without accidentally pocking her in the eye by mistake. "I'm trying to cheer you up not give you a headache." Tilly pointed out throwing a teasing elbow into Margot's stomach.

Margot flashed a lopsided smile at that letting out a soft grunt in surprise at the shot to her middle but shrugged it off to push herself up to press a little kiss against the underside of Tilly's jaw. "First off ouch and secondly thanks for this Tils. It's really sweet. Also, I say that Robin Hood has to say, 'Don't move spy' while she's holding Alice at arrow point." Margot agreed nuzzling her cheek against the dip of Tilly's shoulder getting comfortable for the first time since slamming the door to her room ten minutes earlier. "Then Alice can run away like the quick beautiful blue-eyed blonde-haired woman you are."

"Whoa said it was Robin…..okay yes its Robin Hood." Tilly admitted under Margot's amused looks. "Okay she ducks away and takes off but while doing that she trips a trap Robin set up for a hunt. Cause you know she's Robin Hood and all." Tilly agreed getting back into the story. "No way Alice doesn't deserve to be kept locked up she deserves to be free to run around an have lots of adventures, so Robin lets her out because it's the cool thing to do." Margot jumped in interlocking her fingers with Tilly's as the story unfolded.

"Why would Robin want to be cool? She's already Robin Hood that's the best kind of cool there is." Tilly pointed out twisting a stray strand of Margot's hair back behind her ear. "True but then she and Alice could go to Wonderland together." Margot suggested, "Lots of possible corruption going on in Wonderland I'm sure an outlaw like Robin could find something to keep her and Alice busy…."

"Like stealing the Red Queen's tarts to give out to hungry villagers or something?" Tilly giggled. "and of course, Alice is fast she'd have to be to survive there that's for sure." Tilly commented her tone, so matter of fact Margot almost believed her dreamy-eyed girlfriend had actually been to the wondrous land herself in another life. "Also, not that I'm complaining too much about this but, why would this Robin be a she?"

Margot rolled her eyes answering with a playful. "Think about it Tils the original Hood and Marian could have had kids and Marian could have wanted her daughter to carry on her Dad's legacy. You know girls can do anything a guy can and all that."

"Yikes talk about pressure. That's a lot to put on a kid." Tilly sighed pressing her lips against the crown of her girlfriend's head pleased that this seemed to be helping in turning Margot's night around. "Tell me about it but it's also how I met you, so I can't really complain too much." Margot answered this time managing to catch Tilly on the lips and earning an adorable surprised squeak in response that soon turned into Tilly kissing her back.

Someone clearing their throat from the doorway pulled them apart.

"Just closed up. My sister is staying at Chad's for the night. Chinses alright for dinner?" Was Roni's only reaction besides a flash of surprise they guessed from opening the door to find two in the room instead of one.

Margot just looked up at Tilly obviously trusting her to answer for the both of them. "Sounds great. Thanks, Roni. Actually, I know a great place down the block that has possibly the best takeout in town."

"Do they deliver?"

"They will if you say it's for Weaver." Tilly shrugged. Roni chuckles at that as if she's in on some private joke as she shakes her head pushing off from her stance against the doorway. "I'll get the food you get your girl to a warm shower before she catches a cold in those wet clothes." She tells them pointing toward Margot before her eyes slid to Tilly's with another kind smile and a shake of her head. "Honestly little Jones did you run all the way here? It's like a mini hurricane out there."

"I might have. But my girlfriend was in distress what was I supposed to do sit at home and let her be miserable all night?" Tilly defended choosing not to ask about the name Roni had used in favor of cuddling up against Margot's side when the cold from running from Rogers's apartment to the bar in the rain finally set in.

"Take it easy Tils she was just teasing." Margot soothed tugging her girlfriend to the door. "I'm just glad you're feeling better Targo." Tilly answered nuzzling her face against Margot's side. "Any time I spend with you makes me feel better Tilly." The green-eyed blonde answered both too lost in the other's eyes to see that Regina's eyes are starting to tear up at the tender moment. "Okay okay enough with the sappy stuff you to your worse than Snow and her Prince Charming." The former villainess grumbled but they could hear the joke in her voice "I have food to order, you have a shower to take and you." Regina paused her eyes moving from Tilly to Margot. "You have dry clothes to find for our guest then you can pick the movie we watch until dinner gets here."

"Disney double fecher." The other two said together while Regina rolled her eyes and walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

"This has to be the most inhuman torment in the history of the Heights."

Regina might have taken the steps back up to the apartment two at a time at her niece's whined complaints not hearing the humor behind the words in her rush to get back into the overhead apartment with a hissed "be right back." To the delivery woman just coming in the door on her way up the steps.

"True but as your girlfriend, I think it's within my rights for a little torment." Tilly pointed out with a teasing laugh at Margot's low groan of "I can't believe I let you borrow my favorite shirt only for you to torture me like this Tils"

"It's my favorite too it's the one you were wearing on our first date." Tilly commented making Regina turn on her heels and head back down the steps to finish paying for the take out now she knew the couple was alright.

"Roni tell her to be nicer to me. I'm already having a bad day." Margot said her pleading pout clear in her voice while finally spotting that her aunt returning to the apartment while Regina unloaded the take out on the kitchen island tabletop trying to get her heart rate back to normal as she did so from her worry over Robin's safety. "Hey, I'm being the picture of the perfect girlfriend here. I mean I could be at home still asleep not here cuddled up with you." Tilly defended without lifting her eyes from the sketchbook she had propped against Margot's knees.

Despite still being upset with her Regina itched to get her phone just to send her sister proof that Robin did in fact consent to be the little spoon despite her current cursed state. How Alice managed to keep such a steady hand in her drawing abilities with all of Robin's not so stealthy kisses along the side of her throat was a wonder to the former villainess

"I never said you weren't perfect crazy girl. You're the most wondrous woman I know, and I love you even more for it." Margot corrected talking so low that Regina had to strain to hear her and will reluctantly admit that even she blushed at the scratchy timber of her niece's voice. The only tell that Tilly was affected was the shuddering tremble in her hands early sending the point of the pencil into the page she was working on while she hides her face against the dip in Margot's shoulder to get herself under control. "….aunt right there." Regain heard her murmur bringing a much-appreciated giggle from her once tearful niece. "mm-hmm." Margot agreed tucking a stray strand of Tilly's hair back behind her ear.

"I didn't think we had _Aristocats."_ Regina asked as if she hadn't heard the growled comment glancing over at the low volume tv screen while she settled in on the leather-backed chair across from the couple. "So, what was the emergency anyways?"

"It was either that or _Oliver & Company_." Tilly shrugged while her girlfriend rolled her eyes tracing her fingers skim along the arm Tilly had slung in a loose hold around Margot's waist hugging her back against Tilly's front "We're watching that one next. And the emergency is she's making me color and forcing me to enjoy cuddling." Margot answered the playful annoyance in her voice making Regina wish she'd gotten the confession on tape "This is torture." Her niece sighed lounging back against her girlfriend's embrace like a cat in the sun. A fact that Tilly didn't seem the least bit upset by.

"It's not my fault you're such a fast writer that you got your part finished already." Tilly snapped yet nether Margot or Regina could hear any real venom behind her words. "Besides you can't rush art." She grumbled adding more shading in on the picture she was sketching out. "I'm not rushing it just distracting a little." Margot corrected humming along to one of the songs playing out on the tv no one was really watching anymore as she set the notebook she'd been holding down on the coffee table.

Intrigued Regina leaned over the arm of her chair trying to catch a glimpse of one of the pages Margot was set to color once Tilly had properly finished with it. "Oh yeah, what do you think?" Margot asked nudging the notebook closer with her sock covered foot.

" _CuriousArcher?"_

"It's what we're calling it until we can decide on a title." Margot nodded untangling herself from Tilly's hold to head into the kitchen the second time her stomach growl wanting food.

Regina had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to keep herself in check as her eyes skimmed over the page telling a story she'd already heard parts of first hand from her retreating niece herself. "Hang on what about calling the tavern something else….."

"See that's what I said." Tilly jumped in finally setting aside the sketch she'd been working on taking the take-out box Margot was holding out to her.

"Seriously what's wrong with Emerald Acres?" Margot asked looking between the two defeated as she reclaimed her seat beside her girlfriend, "That's a perfectly good name for a bar."

Regina let the now playful back and forth of Tilly and Margot's argument over the name fade into background as she gets a look at the currently colorless pencil drawing now resting where the notebook still resting against Regina's lap had been beside the unopened box of colored pencils. Again, the former Evil Queen had to bite against her cheek to keep from reacting too much to the drawing while Tilly got up to put on another movie for them to watch. "The detailing is amazing." She praised bringing a blushing 'Thanks." From the artist.

Robin had told her and Zelena about this of how she had snuck up on the blonde while Alice had been too distracted with looking in on her father to notice the archer behind her until the snap of a twig alerted her making her spin around to face the arrow being pointed right between her eyes. Yet in this particular recreation of the couple's first meeting it was Alice dressed down in her niece's hunting gear sporting the bow with an arrow pointing toward the back of the second woman's head while Robin was the one in the skirt and peasant style blouse holding the spyglass in her hands while staring off the edge of the page.

"It'll be better once its got color." Tilly whispered bringing Regina out of her own mind and making her eyes refocused on the page she held in her lap. "What happened to watching _Oliver & Company?"_ Regina asked by way of changing the subject after a felting glance toward the tv as she slid the drawing and the notebook back onto the coffee table. "It's Targo's choice next." Tilly answers after stealing a drink from Margot's soda earning a mildly annoyed eye roll from the woman in question as she reclaimed her seat on the two-person sofa. "I wanted something else sue me." Margot shrugged hitting the play button on the DVD player.

"Wouldn't it be cool if there were actually eight dwarves not seven?" Tilly proposed as the opening titles scrolled across the screen. "There was. I think his name was Stealthy." Regina hears herself saying after swallowing a particularly large bite of her meal. Thankfully for her anyway neither Margot nor Tilly seemed to have heard her slip and she covers her spluttering by accepting the water bottle her niece was offering her.

"I think there was actually." Margot commented tugging a blanket around Tilly's shoulders while she proper herself up against the arm of the couch using it as a pillow while they settled in to fall asleep watching the movie at some point. "Really? You think so?" Tilly asked both hopeful and skeptical all at the same time. "Yeah, I think they call him Tiny."

The former Evil Queen only smiled at the whispered conversation repositioning herself in her chair so she was sitting across it rather then in it resting her back against the high sides splitting her focus between eavesdropping on Margot and Tilly's whispered conversation on if that was really how Snow and her prince met, watching the cartooned version of a rather touchy point in her own past and finishing up the last of her dinner. She really should text Zelena but at the moment Regina can only think about how much Margot is like her father when she smiles while Tilly sings along to the song playing out on the screen and right now that's enough for her.


End file.
